Ten Key Events in the History of Israel from a Redemptive-Historical Perspective

Introduction

Humans, living in uncertainty, desire to know the future. And they mistakenly believe that knowing the future will liberate them from uncertainty. However, even if one were to know the future and what would become of oneself and the world, it holds little significance.

What is truly important is not to escape uncertainty and gain stability, but to walk the right path right now.

The Bible prohibits the human desire to know the future through divination, sorcery, or premature predictions based on human wisdom and perspective. This is because God alone is the one who truly knows the future. While the Bible certainly contains God's prophecies about the future, it strictly warns against premonitions and judgments based on human reason or conjecture outside of them.

Moreover, even the prophecies within the Bible serve the purpose of leading us to realize, only after their fulfillment, that they were accomplished exactly as God spoke, thereby increasing our trust in the true Word of God. Therefore, the Bible teaches that instead of calculating and preparing for the future, or creating self-designed safety nets in uncertain situations and seeking security within those frameworks, we must clutch the Word of God by faith and live in obedience to it.

And God tells humans to make righteous choices and walk the right path. "Depart from evil and do good" is a very simple and easy command. However, some say there is neither good nor evil, no purpose or meaning. Others define good and evil according to their own standards and tell people to live as they please. Still others say that since the standards of good and evil are diverse, one should respect individual standards and live moderately. Recently, there is an attempt to synthesize all information in the world with capabilities exceeding human capacity to present the best standard for good and evil. This is a confusing age where following God's will is difficult.

Therefore, we must first discern and know God's will. And by going beyond mere knowledge and living out this word courageously, we can fulfill God's will. And applying God's word to our lives and ministries is crucial.

To accomplish the Lord's will according to God's will and God's way, the Bible tells us to remember and learn from the past.

Mistakes from the past, errors due to ignorance, actions done in accordance with God's will, and conversely, failures to do so—these must be acknowledged and learned from as they are. Through this process, we are told to discern what God desires and follow God's will with a mature attitude.

In this way, God is a personal being who allows humans to go through a process of growth through time and nurtures them within that process.

Therefore, much of the Bible is the story of this history. And within that history, even the most revered figures' mistakes, weaknesses, and even crimes are recorded without concealment.

From this perspective, Israel is an extremely important nation and people. This is because the Bible records the entire history of God choosing Israel from among countless nations, the process of guiding that nation by His hand, and how Israel sometimes followed and sometimes failed to follow that path. The background of the entire Old Testament is Israel, and Jesus was also born in the land of Israel and proclaimed God's word within Israeli culture.

Therefore, Israel is like a model or example showing God's timeline. We must look at God's universal plan through the history of Israel, and at the same time, we must also view it from the perspective of God's plan of salvation for the restoration of the Jewish people themselves.

From this standpoint, this article seeks to examine the historical events that occurred among Israel after the biblical era, that is, after the Old and New Testaments, from the perspective of the history of salvation, and aims to present 10 important points selected from the events of the past 2,000 years as accurately as possible. The criteria for this selection are based on the author's personal judgment, not the views of a specific historian.

Through this process, we hope to understand how we should proceed, how we should live according to God's word, what God's message is for the people of Israel, and simultaneously, what God's will is for all nations.

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